Chapter 89
Translator: uly
Chapter: 89
Chapter Title: Bad Fate
Daphne's face stiffened as she stared at the dead Calista lying face down. Calista had worn an expression of utter incomprehension about what had happened to her right up until Asherad's vicious tirade, after which he had mercilessly slain her.
Calista's eyes were fixed on Daphne. In her final moments, she had begged for her life.
Daphne looked at Asherad, her face drained of all color. She couldn't understand him. He had killed so easily the woman who had professed to love him so deeply.
Why? Why...?
Daphne gazed at Asherad. He approached with heavy steps, bent down to look at Calista, then lifted the corners of his mouth as he stared at her lifeless corpse.
"Your Majesty, why on earth...?"
There was no justification for this. Of course, his past murders hadn't exactly been backed by grand excuses either, but this one struck Daphne particularly hard.
Daphne had even witnessed them kissing. And Asherad had undoubtedly received Calista's help and affection. Yet he had killed her so cruelly.
Daphne held no fondness for Calista. How often had that woman ignored and struck her? Asherad reached out to the pale-faced Daphne, gently stroking the ointment-smeared, bandaged wound on her forehead before chuckling softly.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"What...?"
"She hurt you like this."
Daphne wore an expression of utter bewilderment. She wasn't some saint herself. If Asherad had punished Calista in kind, Daphne might have secretly felt satisfied. But this? She couldn't comprehend it. All for that?
She recalled the servant he had killed long ago for trying to help her escape.
"She told me she helped you run away."
"......"
"And she did let you escape."
Asherad lowered the hand that had been caressing Daphne's forehead and stroked her cheek instead.
"Was there any reason I shouldn't kill her?"
With a gentle touch, he explained why he had killed her. Tears welled in Daphne's eyes as she shook her head. Was that why he had taken her life? No, it couldn't be.
"From the moment she admitted to helping you escape, I already intended to kill her."
Asherad whispered softly. Daphne sank into even deeper despair. She had lied.
It was true that Calista had contributed to the help, but she hadn't actively aided the escape. Daphne had claimed Calista did it to protect the Rocania Count.
At that point, Asherad had decided to kill her.
Which meant he had killed her because of Daphne. Clutching her hair with both hands, Daphne gripped it tightly.
This time, Daphne could say it with certainty. She had never imagined Asherad would kill Calista on her account. It was true. She had hated the woman, who was in a similar position to her own, but she had never wished her dead.
Asherad probably hadn't planned to kill Calista either.
I killed her.
I framed her and got her killed.
I... killed that woman.
"Kyaaah!"
Unable to breathe, she screamed instead. How many had died right before her eyes? Daphne looked at Asherad, who held the sword. She stared at the man—no, the devil—so breathtakingly beautiful that she had once lusted after him. This was a curse. He was a walking curse!
"Daphne."
Daphne shook her head wildly and backed away. Rejecting his touch, she wept.
"Come here."
Daphne shook her head. All she wanted right now was to avoid looking at his face. But her hopes were dashed as Asherad seized her arm and pulled her into his embrace.
She struggled. Without even glancing at him, she screamed and sobbed.
"Why are you like this? I love you so much."
If this was love, she never wanted to love again. This love was a curse. She wasn't even sure anymore if she had ever loved him—or if she still did. Daphne gave up resisting and collapsed into Asherad's arms.
"I love you, Daphne. I love you."
He pressed his lips to her forehead, then her cheek. His confession, made beside a bloodstained corpse, was utterly endearing.
Daphne lay there dazed in his arms, tears streaming down as she listened to his professions of love again and again.
* * *
Sara stared at Daphne, who kept crying nonstop. Daphne wasn't sobbing loudly, but she was sniffling and weeping endlessly. It had been days now, and she showed no sign of stopping.
"What on earth happened?"
Sara said irritably. Daphne just shook her head. If anything, Sara's question felt strangely warm to her.
"Do you want to see the cooks dying because of you again? You're not eating."
At those words, Daphne lifted her head and climbed down from the bed. She suddenly shoved the piled-up bread on the table into her mouth. Her cheeks bulged like they might burst. She scooped up some soup with a spoon, swallowed it, then immediately started choking.
Sara hurried over and patted Daphne's back. The touch was so warm. It was maddeningly warm—precisely because she knew it wasn't affection directed at her. Forcing down the bread, she promptly felt nauseous.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Under Sara's scolding, Daphne looked up and said weakly,
"Because you said the cook would die..."
At that, fire flashed in Sara's eyes.
"You're serious, even now...?"
Daphne looked up. Fresh tears burst forth. She stared at Sara with hollow eyes. Sara grabbed her shoulders and spoke in a low voice.
"If you'd realized that a little sooner, my big brother wouldn't have died."
"Your big brother?"
Ah, big brother. She vaguely recalled Sara mentioning she had one once. But then the stories stopped...
"What, you don't remember? The servant who died after just talking to you once."
Daphne's heart sank. Now she understood why Sara hated her. Yes, this woman was another victim of hers. As Sara hurled her venomous words, Daphne quietly shed tears.
"You'd completely forgotten."
"......"
"If you'd remembered and apologized, I might have forgiven you. I knew it wasn't entirely your fault."
Sara's words made Daphne's chest tighten. The kind, empathetic Sara had tried to understand her even after her big brother's death. But Daphne had forgotten he even existed.
"Yeah, you probably really forgot. My parents were gone, and my only family was my brother. The most precious person in the world to me... but to you, just someone who died and faded from memory."
"......"
"I'm disgusted with myself for calling you pitiful in front of him. That's when he started being kind to you..."
A figure flashed through Daphne's mind. She remembered there had been a kind male servant once.
"He came back and said your voice was so pretty..."
A man's voice echoed in Daphne's head.
"I didn't know you could talk. Your voice is so beautiful."
She couldn't recall his face, but she remembered his kindness. But then he vanished... She thought he'd gone somewhere and promptly forgot. She recalled Sara being distraught around that time.
"Ah... Ah..."
Tears streamed from Daphne's eyes. He had died because of her, yet she hadn't even remembered him. How many innocent lives like his were there?
Daphne felt like she was sinking into a rotten swamp. The bottom, with nowhere left to fall. In a dazed expression, she murmured,
"Sara, did you say you wanted me to be unhappy?"
"......"
"Then you're satisfied now. I'm the most unhappy I've ever been."
Daphne was unhappy. But there were those who had died without even experiencing such misery. Sara's big brother, Fabian, nameless maids.
Daphne gazed at the ceiling. It was high, yet it felt just like a coffin. The rotten room she had lived in before. She realized she had never truly escaped it.
And she knew what she had to do.
* * *
Yohannis knocked on Daphne's door with a stern face. Hearing no response, he opened it. Daphne sat at the table, her face deathly pale. Seeing him, she smiled faintly.
"Come in."
Yohannis felt puzzled. Ever since that maid's death, Daphne had always looked uncomfortable around him. She gestured for him to sit.
"I heard you were unwell."
"A little."
Yohannis stared at her for a long moment. Her face was unusually pallid. He thought he should call a physician.
"You're refusing to see Asherad...?"
"I don't want to."
"Was the Empress Dowager's death such a shock?"
Daphne flinched. Noticing it, Yohannis said,
"Try to understand. From the moment the late Empress Dowager spoke out of turn in the Imperial Palace, she deserved death."
"......"
"We can't have filthy rumors circulating about His Majesty."
Daphne bowed her head. Her mind foggy, she pressed her forehead.
"So that's why he killed her so cruelly right in front of me?"
He had spat venomous words at Calista and thrust his sword into her. When she didn't die, he stabbed her heart to finish her off. Then he smiled and claimed it was for her sake. Yohannis fell silent for a moment at her words.
"It was to show you."
"Me?"
"He wanted to offer you her head. He knew she'd been tormenting you."
"Killing someone for my sake... is that supposed to be for me?"
Yohannis nodded at Daphne's trembling words. He gazed at her face, seeming conflicted, then spoke.
"Asherad hated you. But he loved you too."
"......"
"That's why his way of expressing it was twisted. Or perhaps he never properly learned how to give or receive love."
Daphne saw the guilt in Yohannis's eyes. Why did he feel guilty? But what did it matter now. Daphne smiled faintly.
"I see."
"......"
"He didn't know how to give and receive love..."
At that moment, Daphne began to cough. Yohannis rose and approached her. Daphne smiled faintly, saying she was fine.
He was worried but continued speaking of Asherad. His childhood, how he was raised, why it had to be this way.
He hoped Daphne could at least accept Asherad, if not fully understand him. Hearing this, Daphne smiled sadly and lowered her eyes.
Then, Daphne started coughing again. Red droplets stained the white tablecloth. Yohannis looked at her in alarm, and she smiled.
"Daphne!"
"In the end, that man and I... we just don't work."
"......"
"It's too much of a bad fate."
With those final words, Daphne closed her eyes.